Even though initially Capcom announced Onimusha would have featured three-dimensional environments rendered in real time by the game engine (like those used in Dino Crisis 1) at the end the developers decided to use the old method of pre-rendered backgrounds with tridimensional polygonal characters.

In other words, the backgrounds drawn by Capcom artists are static and the light effects on environmental elements is limited. Anyhow, the overall atmosphere of this game is simply wonderful. The power of the new console have been used to add extremely realistic special effects, like fire, fog, blood, and reflections on the floor. Entering a small room lit by a moonlight beam coming through a small window you can really feel the thick air, you smell the musty odour of those old walls.

The characters are all realized with an enormous number of polygons. Akechi Samanosuke is drawn using 10000 polygons; you can see the plaques of metal on Akechi's armour moving and the wind blowing through your heroes' hair. While Kaede is a quite cool character, what really shines in this game are the enemies. No zombies here, but terrible demons equipped with dangerous weapons. The bosses are an example of perfect character design supported by a great graphic engine; from the first boss to the final enemy (that anyhow is surprisingly the less impressive in the gang), Onimusha delivers many of the most cool looking monsters ever to grace a videogame.

For non-playable narrative parts, great CG movies have been introduced in the game. Graphics contribute to give that halo of seriousness and glumness that characterizes all Capcom's survival horror games. A dark, excellent game that will not disappoint all the survival horror fans out there, and that thanks to the imaginative atmosphere will please the ones who are accustomed to RPGs.

The mixture of older elements ( pre-rendered backgrounds ) and new features ( fog effects, special light effects ) creates one of the best looking games released on Ps2, together with Konami's Zone Of The Enders.

The soundtrack of Onimusha has been realized by the New Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra, leaded by the composer Samuragouchi, who has written deep, epic music for this game. Also ancient Japanese instruments have been used for Onimusha and the result is a soundtrack able to move the imagination of the player in a world made of myth and magic, following the standards of the most epic Hollywood movies.

Voice acting is quite good, even though it still doesn't reach the greatness of a game like Shadow Of Destiny. It's possible to switch to the excellent Japanese original voices and turn the subtitles on if you want (that's what I did).

This was the limit of Resident Evil and Dino Crisis series, and it's the limit of Onimusha, too. You'll need about six-seven hours to finish the game the first time, nothing more. Anyhow you could want to play this game more than once, trying to beat your own record, and trying to collect all the objects you might have missed the first time.